But Hopkins doctors said it's not just limited to training contact tracers.

"If this course can be a resource for others who just want to know about what contact tracing is, or have concerns about it, I think that's great,” said Dr. Emily Gurley, course instructor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Infectious Disease Epidemiologist.

"One thing that has occurred to us is that those first sections, which are just basic information about the virus, people can refer their friends and neighbors to this course and be able to just really learn about the virus from Dr. Gurley and others,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for Public Health and Community Engagement, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

A recent report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health and Security estimates the U.S. needs to hire at least 100,000 contract tracers to help limit the spread of the coronavirus and start to reopen the economy.

New York state alone plans to hire between 6,400 and 17,000 contact tracers through their partnership with Hopkins and Bloomberg philanthropies.

The free course is a required part of the hiring process for those New Yorkers.